Book Description

In 1850, the French mezzo-soprano Pauline Viardot wrote to her friend Turgenev: "Among that mass of talented composers who are witty in a vulgar sort of way, intelligible not because of their clarity but because of their trivilaity, the appearance of a musical personality such as Gounod's is so rare that one cannot welcome him heartily enough." Pendragon Press welcomes this addition to their Vox Musicae Series of Operatic Performance Guides by Mary Dibbern. The libretti and literary sources of Gounod's two masterpieces are studied in depth. The libretto section includes word-by-word translations into English and IPA transcriptions of both libretti in their final, opéra-comique versions. Dibbern explains how the literary source materials were converted into libretti, as well as the history of the various musical editions and versions. Numerous illustrations have been provided by a member of Gounod's family.